Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Galatians 5:23 ...gentleness...

The fruit of the Spirit is ...gentleness...

Jesus was the meekest man who ever lived. Before you run away with the idea of a milksop in a white nightdress, 'meekness' has the meaning of strength under control. The other night while I was stranded at various railway stations on the Southern Region I watched a huge Diesel locomotive inch its way into a platform. Had I gone up to London on the Friday as I had planned I would have found my journey disrupted again. Someone stepped off Southampton platform into the path of an oncoming train. The huge locomotive utterly destroyed that frail human body. But the same sort of engine was inching into the station under fingertip control early on Friday morning.

Jesus was meek but he had immense destructive power in his hands. Yet he was gentle. He was gentle with the woman it the well. He was gentle with the woman taken in adultery. He was gentle with the children that the disciples would have turned away. Gentleness is one of the fruits of living with the Spirit.

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Born in Worcester, England 1943; school at Farnborough, Hampshire 1954-62; University 1962-7 and junior doctor posts 1967-74 in Bristol; Consultant Haematologist Bournemouth 1974-2003; Professor of Immunohaematology Southampton 1986 to present. Honorary Consultant Haematologist Kings College Hospital, London, 2004-present. After 5 years of working part time researching, writing, reviewing, editing, speaking, sitting on committees, advising, answering questions and thinking, I now think of myself as fully retired apart from my role as Editor in Chief of the medical journal Leukemia Research. I was awarded the Binet-Rai medal for outstanding research in CLL in 2002 and this has been my most sucessful area of research, but I have also made important contributions in the fields of apheresis, stem cell transplantation, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome, antibody therapy, cytokine therapy and DNA vaccines. I was once mascot for Aldershot Town Football. Club. Married to Diane for 44 years. Four children, Karen, Richard, Angela and David.